Blue Lagoon
by Jane Bell
Summary: “You know, Shane’s story of a mysterious girl with a magical voice reminds me of a fairytale…” Shmitchie, Naitlyn, Jess


All's well ends well. And it was indeed well: it was the Final Jam after-party, with the campers' songs playing so loud the musical equipment seemed ready to burst, everybody dancing until their feet couldn't feel the ground, no more Miss Superiority on Tess' side and no more Miss Cool on Caitlyn's. The war was over, and even if not on best of terms, the giddiness of the moment made the unlikely assemble of musicians, dancers and singers feel like good friends.

Oh, and, of course, Michelle Torres and Shane Gray were both missing.

It was Jason, of all people, who noticed first. He had just been telling Tess about how thoughtless Shane was, imagine, forgetting his birdhouse, when he looked around and said, just as the beat of the music gave a pause, "Has anyone seen Shane?" And Nate, guitar in hand, not far and engaged in a most complex conversation about strings and beats and where he'd take Caitlyn next Saturday, stopped to ask the object of his flirtations where "Shane's so-called Girl-with-the-voice" was.

Soon, it was not only camp gossip, but an expressed need everybody had to simply know, firstly, where they were (for those two were more than certainly together) and what they were and had been doing. Tess, for witches don't simply die by one single burn of humiliation, was for setting up a search party – "They could be doing something that would give Camp Rock and Connect 3 a bad name, say, a baby!" – whilst Caitlyn was torn between her loyalty to her friend and her curiosity – "I want to, but we really shouldn't." In the end, it was up Peggy:

"We'll go, have a look, not interrupt, and come back."

That's how Caitlyn, Ella, Jason, Nate (and Nate's guitar, for he wouldn't part with it), Peggy and Tess, at the lead, left the party in order to spy on (and become) tomorrow's _Pop Magazine_'s front page.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The _thuds-thuds_ of the party were faint there, where the sound of water being gently treaded through was a far more pleasing melody. Other than that, there were some owls, crickets by the banks, a gust of wind or another, gentle, always gentle. There was plenty of moonlight, too, and her prince charming. Mitchie felt like a fairytale princess at her happily-ever-after moment.

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" she asked for the hundredth time since they had gotten on the canoe, and Shane shook his head. "Not even a teensy little bit?"

"No," he smiled and rowed them in circles a bit more. "With me you were always yourself, I understand why you lied – for the same reason I started acting like a jerk in the first place, to be accepted by my/your peers – and you're my missing piece! The voice inside my head… Do I have to go on?"

Mitchie laughed, relieved, happy, so happy, and took the oars from him. Shane crossed his arms with a smile. "So, now that you're officially forgiven, I've got some questions…"

Mitchie's grin, if possible, widened. _Yes, it's the first time I'm about to be kissed. Yes, I love you. Yes, I want to be your girlfriend. Yes, I'll drop out of high school to go on tour with you. Yes, I'm a virgin. Yes, I'll marry you tomorrow if you wish._

"Why didn't you come talk to me? You must have known it was you I had been looking for."

The grin became a fraction of an inch smaller. "I didn't. I didn't know you had heard me singing. Whenever did you, anyway?"

That's how they started again, as if they knew nothing of each other except that they were impossibly compelled to one another, something Shane thought too soon to call so and Mitchie had no doubt was love. Conversation came easily between them, as well as leaning close and holding hands. No further physical contact, however, and it remained an unvoiced frustration of Mitchie's and an uncertainty of Shane's. Was it too soon? He wanted to, with other girls he'd never minded, but with her… Was he embarrassed to do it? Afraid it would ruin things? God, he wasn't a jerk, he was a wuss…

Back at the docks, Tess' expert eyes spotted the couple in the middle of the lake.

"There they are!" she whispered excited.

"It doesn't look like Shane's going to be a dad in nine months," Nate said with a chuckle.

"Pity," murmured Jason. "I kinda liked the idea of Shane Junior."

"Dude, shut up."

"Hush, you two," Caitlyn said squinting her eyes in order to see them more clearly. "Maybe if we go a bit closer to that willow we'll be able to listen to what they're saying!"

"Didn't you say we shouldn't spy on them?" Ella asked, not sure she liked the plan.

"It's not spying," Peggy said. "It's research, right, boys?"

Nate and Jason raised an eyebrow at the girl. "_What?_"

"We're supposed to write a song together, remember?" She said proudly. "If it's going to be about love, we might as well spy on those two a bit."

"See?" said Ella. "It _is_ spying."

"Yes, it is," Tess said with an evil grin. "Therefore I agree with Caitlyn. Let's go to that willow. There are enough bushes for us to hide."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the canoe, it was Mitchie's turn to row, which lead, some laughs and sweet talks later, to them running aground near the great willow.

"Ooops…"

"Don't worry," he told her laughing. "It's knee-deep about here…"

The party hiding behind the bushes shivered.

"…we can get out easily."

"I don't want to wet my boots," Mitchie sighed and held his hands again, intertwining their fingers. "Let us stay here a little bit longer."

"Alright," Shane said. "There's much I still wanna know about you, like, flour."

"I like roses."

His thumb played with hers. "Mitch, I meant the flour face, remember? When you first told me I sucked."

"Oh!" Mitchie reddened. "You knew that… I mean, you knew it was…"

"What?"

"You knew it was _me_?"

Shane laughed and she splashed lake water at him, saying "I never said you sucked! Only called you a jerk!"

"My having been a jerk doesn't mean you can do that!" he said splashing her back. They laughed, but stopped playing with the water as soon as the canoe threatened to turn.

They went on talking what Brown would have called silly gibberish, and it annoyed both Caitlyn and Tess amazingly. Tess was the first to voice the group's feeling.

"Are they _ever_ going to kiss?"

"They should," Peggy added. "I mean, it doesn't look like they already have."

"And it doesn't look like they're going to," Caitlyn sighed exasperated as she turned to both Tess and Nate. "We gotta do something."

"We were going to just peep and come back, remember?" Ella said. "I don't think interrupting is a good thing."

"Of course it's a good thing, it's almost charity," Tess said with a wicked smile. "I mean, look at them! They're never going to move an inch closer if we don't slam them together!"

"You know," Jason pointed. "That might ruin the mood."

"For once, you're right, man," Nate said eyeing Caitlyn and Tess. He took his guitar from its case and placed it on his lap. "On the other hand, moments like these call for a song."

"Great idea!" Caitlyn agreed. "Which, though?"

Everything was suggested, from Backstreet Boys and Hanson to Britney and Beyonce, but, of course, the best idea was Jason's.

"You know, Shane's story of a mysterious girl with a magical voice reminds me of a fairytale…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She might as well turn to sea foam by sunset, Mitchie thought, she didn't care. If only she could stay under his loving gaze forever, under his dark eyes which told her wordlessly he loved her, told her that everything was alright. It was her glimpse of heaven, this silently musical Eden with her one and only man. She didn't even know, but Shane thought she glowed when she smiled like that; it was the most beautiful sight. Neither wanted that delicious moment of simply _being_ to end. To hell with anything more devious (as Mitchie put it in her mind) than hand-holding. She was happy, perfectly happy, just to be with him.

A few notes struck the air, breaking their perfect connection with nature and each other.

"Did you hear something?" Mitchie asked looking about.

"Yeah, sounded like…"

The sparse notes became gentle strumming, a low hum of voices joining it.

"Music?" Shane finished outraged and looked at the direction the sound came from, not believing what was happening. "I know this guitar! Nate!"

A most peculiar scene followed. From the bushes round the water emerged six people, all of them with leaves on their hairs and one of them with a guitar, happily playing. The others hummed along, a tune Mitchie soon recognised.

"Guys, _no_," she moaned blushing to the roots of her hair, her grip on Shane's hand tightening. "Not-"

"_There you see her_," Tess struck first, pleased by getting the opening line. "_Sitting there across the way…_"

"_She don't got a lot to say,_" Peggy went on excited, soon joined by Ella and Caitlyn. "_But there's something about her…_"

Shane and Mitchie exchanged glances. This wasn't seriously happening.

"_And you don't know why,_" the girls continued, this time joined by Jason, completely out of tone. "_But you're dying to try; you wanna KISS THE GIRL…_"

"Grab the oars," Shane said after noticing he couldn't possibly splash water on their personal little choir and that there were no rocks he could throw at them either. "Maybe we can get away if…"

"_Shalalalalalala, my, oh, my!_" the girls and Jason sang, and Nate took the next lines, firstly alone, then with Caitlyn. _"Looks like the boy's too shy, ain't gonna kiss the girl…"_

"It's not working," Mitchie told Shane, pulling the oars as hard as she could in order to get them free from the bank they had run aground on. "Lean on that end of the boat, see if-"

"_Shalalalalalala, my, oh, my!_" the happy choir chirped on. "_Ain't that sad? It's such a shame, too bad…_"

"_You're gonna miss the girl_," Nate finished the chorus and continued strumming lightly while the others hummed along. "F.Y.I., you two, we're not leaving until we see some kissing!"

"Piss off, dude!" Shane called annoyed as he and Mitchie almost turned the canoe over while trying to get free. "Don't you have some party to get to? Other people to bother? Go away!!"

"Caitlyn, girls!" Mitchie called sounding desperate. Her happily-ever-after-moment was going down the drain. "Please, don't-"

"_Now's your moment,_" Tess and Peggy began again, undulating their frames slightly with the tune. "_Floating in a blue lagoon…_"

"_Boy, you better do it soon_," Ella sang proudly solo, then touched Caitlyn's shoulder to ask for help with the next line. "_No time will be better…_"

Nate picked up the tempo and sang the next part. "_She don't say a word and she won't say a word until you…_" The whole group joined to scream "_KISS THE GIRL!!_" at them.

The chorus came again, Jason getting the tone right this time, and Mitchie gave up trying to get away from them. Pulling Shane's hand and shaking her head at him with an apologetic smile, she shrugged and sat back again.

"Maybe we should, you know," she mumbled shyly. "So they'll just stop."

"You can't be serious," he looked at the performers angrily. "I'm not giving them the satisfaction. And that's ridiculous! They're singing a song from _The Little Mermaid_!"

"_You gotta kiss the girl…_" Ella began the most annoying part.

"_Go on and kiss the girl…_" Caitlyn continued.

"_You gotta kiss the girl…_" joined the rest of them, one by one. Tess's temper was being tested, she felt.

"Shane, Mitchie!" she called over the singing. "This part of the song goes on until you kiss, or until I go over there and turn your bloody canoe!"

Shane glared daggers at them, and felt a tiny tug on his hand.

"_Perhaps _we should," Mitchie repeated sweetly, the ghost of a pout on her lips. She smiled shyly, then looked almost thankfully in her friends' direction.

"Mitchie…" Shane moaned, a hand resting on her cheek as his face warmed.

"_Kiss the girl…_"

She dropped her smile momentarily. "Unless you don't want to kiss me."

"No! I mean, _yes_, but…"

"_KISS the girl…_"

"Would you guys just _drop it?!_" Shane and Mitchie barked at them simultaneously.

"No way! This is just too much fun!" Jason answered laughing. "The chorus again, girls! Nate, give me that guitar…"

The ladies chirped on in delight. "_Shalalalalalala, my, oh, my! _…"

"You know what, Mitchie…" Shane smiled after rolling his eyes, shrugged and caressed her cheek with a defeated sigh. "Let's do it."

He thought he heard her say "Finally!" before she launched herself on top of him, but he wasn't quite sure. Point was, she did, and their lips clashed instantly while she hugged him by the neck and her body settled awkwardly between his legs so the canoe wouldn't turn, and he held her tight by the waist. All happened so quickly and felt so electrically amazing neither of them heard the loud cheering from their audience.

"Yes! They kissed!" Caitlyn celebrated hugging Nate and kissing him on the cheek.

"They did!" Ella and Peggy hi-5'ed each other.

"Finally! I thought they'd never…" Tess began, but was cut off by Jason taking her by both hands and doing a victory dance singing "He kissed the girl!" and turning her until she was dizzy.

"…Um, guys," Ella began after a while, feeling uncomfortable. "Shouldn't we get going now? I mean, _look_ at them."

The happy couple seemed to have completely forgotten their audience, the song or that there was a world outside their embrace. Heated embrace, Caitlyn noticed with a devious smile, and exchanged glances with her former rival.

"Yup, let's get back," she said grinning at Tess as if they had been long time accomplices. "But we'd better take them, too. None of us wants to have Brown questioning us later."

"Or be responsible for Mitchie dropping out of high school to take care of Shane Junior," Tess agreed, then looked around. "Right, gang?"

"Oh, come on," Nate crossed his arms. "They're making out, so what? Let's get back to…"

"Mitchie can't drop out of high school, dude," Jason said. "Think about her future!"

"Dude, she won't drop out."

"Then who'll take care of Shane Junior?"

"There won't be a Shane Junior!"

"There won't?"

"Guys!" Caitlyn shouted over their bickering.

"Sorry," they said.

"I'm not interfering again," Ella argued, at which Peggy agreed. "They're fine now, and we're getting back to the party."

"Whatever you like," Caitlyn shrugged and eyed the others. "I'll do it."

"Sure," Jason said, then looked puzzled. "Do what?"

"Haven't you guys watched the movie?" Tess asked grinning, then signaled to the water. "Now, who's willing to get wet?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So much for being okay with mere hand-holding. Kissing him was so much more than she had expected, than she had ever dreamed it would be…

The canoe rocked.

"This time, what…" Shane said annoyed again, looking at the bushes expecting to find the group throwing things at them, but there was no one.

"Where did they go?" Mitchie asked sitting up. He hadn't even realised she had been lying on him. Or that his shirt was half-way off him. "I never heard them leave."

The canoe rocked again. They were free from the bank, now floating to a deeper area.

"I don't think they did," Shane said holding her to him tighter. "But keep quiet, I think they'll try to-"

A shirtless Nate and a Caitlyn with a ponytail did turn the canoe over; Tess and Jason, at the margin, threw them life jackets they had forgotten to put on.

"Back to the castle, Prince Eric," Nate chuckled as Shane resurfaced with Mitchie still clinging to him, their facial expressions priceless. "And take Ariel, too. The people will want to know their new queen!"

As soon as Mitchie had found her footing and let go of him, Shane jumped at Nate. Mitchie was hugged from behind by Caitlyn and the four of them seemed to struggle to drown the other, and laughed at it!

At least it was so from an innocent person's point of view.

"We gotta do something," Jason told Tess. "They're gonna kill each other!"

"Jason, they're just playing around, they…" she trailed of as she saw him remove his shirt.

Hm. Lake. Night swim. Shirtless Connect 3. All of them. Shirtless.

"Hurry up, Jason!" Tess said taking off her shoes. "We gotta save them!"


End file.
